15-mile Bike Ride and the Aftermath

I'm still struggling, but I can't escape this slump because my car is still in the shop. All I can do is go out for a walk when I feel restless and listless. It is a good thing then that the neighborhood is walkable. The tree-lined streets make it easier to walk out and ramble on whenever I feel like. It doesn't bring me the Novelty Effect -- I've been in this neighborhood for over 5 years now -- but it still improves my mood, however briefly.

It's been over 2 months by now since I ran the car into a ditch. They finally got all the parts they need and about to begin the repair work. But they are not in hurry. They have all the business they can handle, and they are taking all the weekends and holidays off. Then they shut down the shop for 2 days last week to remodel the floor. The upshot is that I'm not likely to get my car back for at least another week.

I've been doing my best to stay in shape with 4x1 block jogging ever since the ski season was over in April.  I had to give that up because I was struggling through the pollen season. Then I finally got out of the pollen-induced struggle in the middle of May, and it was time to over-do as I usually do whenever I feel better. I went on a biking, thinking that I'd go Tower Bridge by the river. Then I remembered that REI had a sale, and that was a good excuse to ride all the way. I kept going with only one break in Discovery Park. I returned with nothing to show for it, again with only one break. The 15-mile ride took only about 2 hours. That's about 3 times as fast as the first 15-mile ride I did back in 2018.

The recovery from the ride was typical of the recent pattern: I stayed upright and functional the next day, and then the struggle started day after. On the 3rd day, I got tired of the struggle and went out for a walk, thinking that maybe I could exercise my way out of the post-bike PEM hole. I ended up walking 2.5 miles. Then the struggle continued for 3 more days after that. The more things change, the more remains the same: it was obvious that I still can't exercise my way out of PEM. That extended my Spring struggle from April to end of May with only a few respites.

I'm eager to get back on the road. I'll hit the road running, hopefully, as soon as my car comes back from the shop. I have already bought most of the things I need for the new season -- no idea why I need more stuff every season, but I do -- and now I'm debating if I need a drone. I'll be telling my story with film this time and drone footage would add a visual interest to the story. Investing $1000 just to tell a story seems an overkill though. I still have a few more days at least before my car comes back. I'll think some more and decide. 

April Struggle

 Since Apr 3, I've been crapping out in the afternoon, practically every day. 21 days out of 30, to be precise. In March from 3/3 to 4/2, on the other hand, I was knocked out only in 10 afternoons.  I've been struggling twice more often in April than March. If I compare it to the period from 3/7 (when I recovered from skiing in Heavenly on 3/2) to 4/2, it is 3 times the struggle. 

So, I went over the data going back to 2018 to see if this has been the pattern. In 2018, there had been quite a bit more of red days from late April to Early May. In 2019, it was the first half of April. In 2020 though, the pattern wasn't as discernible. I think that could be because I skied hard at Sugar Bowl, and I was crapping out starting in January/February. Then the struggle continued into March/April pollen season. Still, there were more of red day in Mar/Apr than there were in Jan/Feb.  Then, in 2021, it was red all over in March.  

2022 was again inconclusive. The Electric Hobo Season 1 was concluded in November 2021 and then the Season 2 started in April of 2022. That may have overpowered the effect of pollens in 2022. The Season 3 could have started in April this year also, if the car weren't in the shop. It's been almost a month since it went in, and they are still waiting for the parts. It'll be 2 more weeks before I get it back.

So, yeah, there appears to be a pattern: I do worse in March/April/May compared to January/February/March. That coincides with the pollen allergy season. The pollen this year is particularly bad, thanks to so much Winter/Spring rain. That could explain why the MECFS struggle this season has been more pronounced.

Season Analysis

 This year saw a vast improvement. A month into the season in prior years, I struggled for full 3 days even after cutting back both the skiing intensity and hours by half. This year, I continue to ski hard at the end of the season.  And yet, I'm spending less time in the dog pound, and it is mostly in the afternoon that I struggle, not the whole day. 

When I started to struggle two months into the season, I decided to hit the road for a shot of dopamine. I went to Park City, Utah and skied for 3 days in a row. That seems to have reset the season and I was able to ski hard for the rest of the season. Here is the post-ski recovery data:

At the first glance, the pattern looks random. But the first half of the season becomes discernable if you remove the first day of skiing which resulted in a long struggle because of deconditioning. Then the recovery time increases gradually from 1 day to 3 days over the period of 2 months. The pattern repeats in the second half after the trip to Utah and a break of 1 month following the trip, if you remove: 1) #11 which resulted in a struggle after a month-long break due to deconditioning and 2) #12 when I skied hard 4 hours nonstop because the storm was coming at 1PM and Here is pattern with those adjustments:

I've been skiing hard from all season long from the get-go. That probably explains the long 4-day struggle after the first day when I wasn't in shape. That is normal. What is not normal is the progressive worsening. Healthy people should struggle less as the season progresses and they get into shape. The worsening can be explained only with fading Novelty Effect: as the newness of skiing fades, so does the dopamine level. The post-ski struggle, which gets suppressed by dopamine, gradually takes over and the struggle worsens.

While there has been a great improvement, the post-exercise fatigue still remains excessive.  While may take several days even for a healthy person to recover from a hard skiing, the fatigue should not be debilitating. But I still conk out in the afternoons during the recovery. It is a problem that still needs to be fixed for the full recovery. Maybe One more season of Electric Hobo will take care of it.

Kirkwood, Skiing #14

It's been a banner year. The Sierra got 60 feet of snow and several resorts will remain open till July. I sure am getting my money's worth out of Epic Pass that I paid $430 for. I've skied 14 days so far and I probably can squeeze in another 5 days till May. If my body holds up, that is.

And I am holding up, so far. It's been a vast improvement over the last season when I was succumbing to post-ski sickness a month into the season, just like previous years. I started struggling 2 months into the season this year. Then I traveled to Utah for 3 days of skiing, and survived it without post-ski struggle. It must've been the Novelty Effect from that trip. Since then, I've been skiing with minimal post-ski struggles. The last trip to Kirwood on 3/25 was harrowing -- I rolled off The Wall for about 100 feet, and then had to get my car towed to Sacramento after running it into a ditch off hwy 88 -- and I ended up with cold sore on my lip. Still, I've recovered from it after 4 days without getting sick. Maybe I suffered a little more fatigue than I should've, but it wasn't much worse than normal recovery after a hard skiing for healthy people of my age.

Another atmospheric river hammered California on the week proceding 3/25, for the umpteenth time this year. Then the weather broke on 3/24 and I had to go up the mountains. Since the problematic Hwy 88 was clear this time, it had to be Kirkwood. I planned to spend the morning in the backside and then I came back to the front side via Eagle Ridge. I remember the route from the company ski trip in 90s when the snow was waist deep and one of the guys got buried and gave up. I also remember it when I led a Stanford group there: one of the girls went over it by mistake. I had to ditch the Swede I was skiing with and then follow her to make sure that she didn't get lost. 

I ended up spending the first half the morning on The Cornice. The snow there was soft and jumping off the top was surprisingly easy. I did a few runs there and then went to the backside and spent the second half of the morning on the Sunrise before coming back to the front side via Eagle Ridge as planned.

The Wall looked scary as I looked up from the below. The fall from the top looked about 20 feet. The steep part where the shadow of the wall ended was about 40 feet. But I had The Cornice under the belt and the path to the left of The Wall looked easy enough. When I got up there though, I decided to check out the path to the right where the cliff was. The Cornice was soft, so maybe I could tackle this one too if it was soft. It wasn't. The Wall was icy, and the soft portion started only where the wall ended. I hesitated for a good 5 minutes and then finally jumped off. I leaned back thinking the snow would grab my skis like it did on The Cornice. The skis instead skidded on the ice and I ended up spun around. I then rolled a good 100 feet and lost all my skis and poles. My goggle also got separated from my head and ended up a few feet below me. It got filled with snow and ice, and I was no longer able to see through it.

The rest of the run was synch once I got back up and picked up the pieces. The wide and soft bumps were a hoot to ski. After the top portion, I took the gulch back to the chair. And no, I didn't go back up. One yard sale was enough for the day. As it was, I ended up with a whiplash and my neck was sore for a few days.

I stopped in Jackson to refuel on the way back home. It should've been a smooth sailing from there. Just before hitting Hwy 16 however, I hit a hitch. Hwy 49 through Drytown is usually bad enough without shoulder and a ditch right next to it. Then the road eroded, and the white line crumbled into the ditch. My front tire hit the crumbled white line, lost control and I ended up in the ditch. The car bounced back out and then swerved into the oncoming traffic. Luckily other cars slowed down and I didn't hit anybody. But rear passenger side wheel and the front undercarriage got trashed. The wheel well lining got all crumpled and stuck between the car and the tire. I was thinking I could drive the car to Sacramento if I removed the crumpled lining. No such luck. It took me a while to get the lining removed -- the plastic pins were bitch to remove and I didn't have a right tool -- but the car still wouldn't drive. The wheel was tilted and made hideous sound when driven. I had to get it towed.

The tow arrived in 40 minutes, and I dropped the car at Kniesel's Autobody. It was Saturday evening, and they wouldn't open till Monday. But I didn't want to have it towed again, so I just left the car there over the weekend despite the danger of break-in. Now I'm still waiting for the estimate. It'll probably another a few weeks before I get my car back.

I don't know what it is with this car. I haven't had at-fault accident in 40 years, and then 3 accidents with this Tesla. This interstate cruiser does not have good visibility and it doesn't have steering feedback. All my previous cars were small and fun to drive; this one is big and numb. I think that is what's been causing all the accidents. I'll have to get rid of it and get into a smaller, sportier one. The freedom of free fuel is hard to give up though. Maybe I'll just rely on FSD, when it becomes usable enough, and not drive. In the meantime, I'll have to have Autopilot on more often. It doesn't work too well on twisty roads, and that was probably why I had it off on Hwy 88 and 49.

So, why did my post-ski sickness improve this year? I think it goes back to my theory that the remaining 5% of the exertion-hypersensitivity was still getting triggered at the same threshold and wreaking the same havoc. It's now down to 3%, and the post-exertion sickness is finally starting to improve. It's like murky water. You get close to the bottom, but you still can't see the bottom through it. Then, as you get even closer, you suddenly see the bottom. I think that is where I'm now. I may not be 100% yet, but I'm starting to see the end through the remaining 3%. One more season of Eletric Hobo, and I'll be 100% recovered, I think. I hope.

Ski Bumming in Utah

Elko was bitter cold. Being inland desert must have made it vulnerable to quick heat dissipation in the winter just as it is vulnerable to heat buildup in the summer. But I was not stopping too long over here. The Chinese takeout that I ate the last time I was here was conveniently located in the shopping center, but it was only 4 PM and I was going to eat when I get to Salt Lake City. I was only stopping to charge my car and I was moving on. 

So, I made it to Utah, after all. The snow forecast in Donner Pass on Friday 2/3 looked iffy and it appeared that I'd have a good chance to make it back over the pass on Saturday. (Turned out, there was only a slight flurry on Friday Morning and the road was clear by Saturday morning.) So I packed up on 1/30 and headed west the next day.

Who knew Nevada in winter was so beautiful? During the summer, the brown mountains look more like extensions of the desert: they are hills rather than mountains. In the winter, their peaks turn white and majestic making them look a lot bigger. The never-ending white peaks make you realize Nevada is indeed the most mountainous state.

The cold weather shrank the range of my Tesla. I could see the battery draining about 25% faster than normal. In the summer, 70 mph would consume 280 wh/m. In the cold of Nevada, it was more like 350 wh/m.  I had to charge 150 miles and then stop after 100 miles for recharge. After what seemed like a half dozen stops (Lovelock, Winnemucca, Elko, West Wendover, Tooele), I was finally in Salt Lake City after 9PM. King Chinese Buffet that I drove so long for closed at 10PM, so I went to a hole-in-the -wall place called Little World instead. It was the worst Chinese food I've eaten, bar none. The vegetables were raw and sauce absolutely tasteless. After that, I went to Tesla store, charged the car and then slept there. 

The next morning, I went through the usual commotion of Electric Hobo -- stop at Mcdonald for coffee, $1 McMuffin and bathroom. Then I was on my way to Park City. Being there for the first time, I suspected I would end up spending a lot of time finding my way. And I did. The main lot of the park city now required $25 for a single driver. You have to have 4 people in the car and reservation for free parking. I had to drive back to Canyon Village side to find a free parking. To make it worse, they botched the signage to the parking, and I ended way up in the gated village. I came back and managed to find my way to the free parking. By the time I on the slope after taking the standing gondola to Pine Express and and Pine Express gondola to the bottom of Saddleback, it was 10AM.

I spend the first day on the Canyon Village side. Park City was a big mountain and just going over to the main side and coming back would take a half a day. I figured I'd go over to the main Park City side on the second day and then spend the 3rd day on the Canyon Village side again before driving back in the afternoon. 

That's right, I spent 3 days skiing Park City. I originally planned to take the second day off and spend time in Salt Lake City. But then, I drove all the way and I had to get my money's worth. I didn't spend any, to tell the truth, but the time and distance were as valuable as money. I was naturally apprehensive as I haven't done back-to-back skiing in 15 years. The 3 days of skiing in Whistler in 2017 knocked me out and nobody in the group wanted to ski more after that. And back-to-back judo practice used to trigger overtraining syndrome that eventually turned into MECFS, and 3 days of skiing could bring it back. But then, I've been doing find with back-to-back hiking and the apprehension never materialized. So, the chances were, I'd be fine.

That was a lot of skiing. I was all over Tombstone on the Canyon Village side, Dream Catcher in the middle mountain and then Motherlode on the Park City side. The second day was a full day that started at 9 AM and ended at 3 PM. It wasn't as hard, however, as I spent half the time practicing short turns on groomed runs. Still, full day skiing was exhausting, and I needed refuel. The lunch hour was over when I got to King Buffet, so I couldn't load up. I went to Ramen Bar in downtown instead -- I felt like warm broth after all day skiing anyway -- and had Donkatsu Ramen that hit the spot just right. It was getting dark by then and I drove to Super 8 by the airport to sleep. I slept in the car for 2 nights by then and I needed a shower. And some comfort after the hard day of skiing.

The 3rd day was meant to be a half day, but I ended up skiing till past 1 PM and was back in Salt Lake City at 2. I charged the car and then was at King Buffer for $13 all-you-can-eat lunch. I then had to stop at Tesla Service to see if they can quickly fix the trunk latch that refused to close again. They couldn't -- it would take several hours for them to get to it and then fix -- so I left fruitlessly at 4 PM for Winnemucca 400 miles away. It would be well past 9 PM when I plugged the car in and climbed the back to sleep.

The Utah in winter was an absolute stunner. I didn't get to see it on the way in because it was past 8 PM by the time I crossed the borderline from Nevada. On the way out, however, I could see Wasatch mountains in my back mirror and the peaks spilled over from it in the front. Then it was the desert leading to Bonneville Salt Flat. The flat was flooded and frozen: it reflected the distant peaks in perfect symmetry. 

In all, The Utah expedition was a resounding success. I discovered Nevada and Utah in winter as well as skiing for 3 days.

Utah Dreaming

My Epic Tahoe Pass allows me to ski in Utah and Colorado for the total of 5 days. I've been watching the weather so that I can get to Utah: I need 5-day window in weather to get to Park City, ski for 2 alternating days and then come back. It is clear this week for 4 days, from Monday to Thursday. Then there is a slight chance of snow on Friday. So, I've been thinking that I could go and then come back on Saturday. I'd sleep at Tesla station in Salt Lake City on Tuesday, ski Park City on Wednesday, rest on Thursday in a motel, ski Friday and then drive back to Winnemucca on Friday night. I would then drive over Donner Pass on Saturday morning on route back home. The thought of driving to Salt Lake City and sleeping in my car there got me all aroused and my fatigue lifted. I was struggling a bit from reinstalling the inverter yesterday morning. 

Then, I decided not to take a chance. The road still could be slippery on Saturday morning, and I didn't want to incur another repair bill. So I gave up on the trip. The fatigue came back, and I was knocked out for a few hours after lunch. 

I'll have to get back on the road. Skiing Tahoe is swell, but the novelty is gone and I'm struggling 4 days after skiing. I should turn myself into a ski bum and travel from resort to resort all winter long rather than making day trips from home. But I can't do that in my slippery Tesla. I'll have to procure an AWD and turn it into a camper. Maybe next year if they come up with a truck or SUV for $30 after the subsidy. If not, I'll get a cheap a used AWD for $10k and retrofit it. I'll then hopping from resort to resort all over the West. Vail, here I come.

Northstar, Skiing #7

It's nothing but blue skies for the next 10 days. I was still under the weather from skiing #6, but I figured dousing my brain with dopamine just might get me out of it. I know, hope springs eternal. It's been more than a month since the season began, and I was struggling after skiing because the novelty wore off. I wasn't going to get enough dopamine from skiing now, I know that. It was just a wishful thinking that more skiing could get me out of the struggle. But I finally got my car back from the shop, so I was anxious to hit the road again anyway. 

I went to Heavenly for the last two times, so it was going to be Northstar or Kirkwood this time. Kirkwood felt dreary for some reason. It was the same process as how I choose my path when I come to a crossroad while on my walk: one path feels better than the other for whatever reason. Maybe it's light. Maybe it's the curb appeal. Or maybe it's just that I haven't been on that block for a while, and it feels new. I look down the streets and take whichever pulls me stronger. Northstar felt better the same way for whatever reason. I also planned to cut down on the intensity and amount of skiing since the high-dopamine period at the beginning of the season is over, so Northstar with more easier slopes was a better choice anyway.

Snow as all packed by now and a bit icy on groomed slopes. The freshness of 10 feet powder was all but gone. Consequently, I stay off the groomed slope in preference to moguls most of the time. As such, I ended up skiing harder that I planned and ended up doing 5 runs of 2 sessions instead of 4 runs.  On my last run, I went to Rapids off Backside Express chair. It turned out to be longer than Gun Barrel in Heavenly and just as steep. So much for the plan for easy skiing. The outcome was that I struggled for 3 days after that. It wasn't a bad struggle though. Mostly I got knocked out in the afternoon and then recover in the evening.

That has been the pattern lately: struggle in the afternoons, in between refreshing mornings and evening recoveries. All my red days has been that way since I returned from the Electric Hobo season 2.  It must a transitory state on the way to full recovery from MECFS. Perhaps the struggle in the afternoon will go away too after the season 3.